Pages tagged "young people"

The Australian Christian Lobby is again calling on state governments to introduce laws regulating outdoor advertising in light of a recent Wicked Campers slogan degrading women.

ACL’s spokesperson on the dignity of women Wendy Francis said the latest slogan from the campervan company – which read, “In every princess, there’s a little slut who wants to try it” – undermines a woman’s worth.

“Time and again, we have seen Wicked Campers ignore calls from the Advertising Standards Bureau to keep its slogans in line with community standards.

“Our children and young people will continue to be exposed to such inappropriate content if our governments fail to intervene,” Ms Francis said.

A Sydney mother recently launched an online petition calling on the Brisbane-based company to remove its slogans, after her 11-year-old daughter spotted the latest slogan on a van in the Blue Mountains.

The change.org petition to “Eliminate misogynistic and degrading slogans and imagery” has now reached over 90,000 signatures.

Ms Francis said no parent wants their child to be exposed to material that objectifies or demeans women.

“The sexualisation of our everyday environment is causing an increase in sexual assaults, eating disorders in young children, and depression.

“A report published in the Lancet medical journal earlier this year revealed that incidents of sexual violence against women in Australia is more than double the global average.

“Governments across our nation need to open their eyes to the harm that companies like Wicked Campers are causing against vulnerable members of society,” she said.

This week, Mr Andrew Broad MP (left) - the member for Mallee in Victoria - gave his support for the continued funding of the National School Chaplaincy Program in a statement to parliament.

He gave an account of the important work chaplains have played in his electorate, particularly after a tragic incident where a driver hit and killed six children in Mildura.

Mr Broad said:

"The advantage of helping young students as they grow and struggle to find their place in life and have someone to talk to is very valuable...We also believe that a chaplain's role in school is instrumental in helping young adults become fulfilled, confident and great individuals."

To read the statement, follow this link to the Hansard document. Mr Broad's statement begins on page 42.

Last month, ACL congratulated the Coalition on fulfilling an election promise to continue funding school chaplaincy across Australia. The recent budget revealed that a total of $243.8 million will be allocated to the program over the next four years. Under the program, Australian schools can apply for $20,000 grants from the government to hire a school chaplain. Many school communities raise extra funds so their chaplains can work more than two days per week.

CEO of Scripture Union Queensland - the largest provider of school chaplains in Australia - Peter James recently spoke to ACL's Katherine Spackman about being called to the High Court a second time to defend the chaplaincy program. You can listen to the interview here. A verdict is not expected for some months.

The Australian Christian Lobby (ACL) has welcomed new laws forbidding sexual relationships between young people and adults in positions of authority in the ACT.

ACL’s Managing Director Jim Wallace said the laws passed in the Legislative Assembly on Tuesday night are a sensible measure to minimise the exploitation of vulnerable young people.

“People in positions of authority need to be held accountable for inappropriate sexual behaviour upon young people in their care,” he said.

“Attorney-General Simon Corbell should be commended for providing this fundamental protection for a vulnerable sector in our society.”

The new laws make it a criminal offence for an adult with responsibility for a young person to have a sexual relationship with them, even if they consent. This applies to teachers, foster or step-parents, counselors, health professionals, youth workers and sports coaches.

Those found to be breaking this law could be charged with two new offences of sexual intercourse and act of indecency.

Michael Knight is a director at Peer Power, an organisation which delivers seminars in schools. In this interview with the ACL's Katherine Spackman he talks about the results of a survey of 5,000 young people which showed that over half of all students surveyed agreed or strongly agreed that democracy really does give the common person power to make significant decisions in how our country is run.

In the last week the ACL has been quoted in the media on homelessness and families, misogyny and sexism, and new spending cuts unveiled by the Federal Government. See below for links to mentions in the media.

ACL commented on early intervention strategies for reducing homelessness in children and young people:

The Australian Christian Lobby has welcomed the Victorian Government's rejection of calls for a drug injecting trial in Melbourne.

ACL Victorian Director Dan Flynn said injecting illicit drugs is never safe and that Community Services Minister Mary Wooldridge was right to stick to the Government’s election promise to oppose such a trial.

Mr Flynn said that research by Drug Free Australia into the Sydney supervised injecting facility found that for every user injecting in the “safe” rooms they inject elsewhere a further 34 times.

“Given that every injection is dangerous the proposed facility would not offer any effective protection.”

“Reduction in drug trafficking and drug related crime will only be achieved by rehabilitating addicts towards drug free status, not maintaining them in their addiction,” Mr Flynn said.

“The Sydney facility is estimated to cost in excess of $2.5m a year to run. That money would be more appropriately spent on programs to get addicts off drugs, including funding drug rehabilitation beds.”

A report by Dr Andrew Byrne in 2006 (cited in the Drug Free Australia report, p. 2) into the Sydney facility reveals that drugs regularly injected included heroin, ‘ice’ and cocaine.

Mr Flynn said that there was little evidence from assessments of the Sydney facility that drug users had been effectively referred to programs that helped them end their addiction.

“The message that injecting rooms send is that injecting is ok and can be safe. This is not a message we should be sending out to Victoria’s young people,” he said.

Drug Free Australia’s analysis of the Final Report of the Evaluation of the Sydney Medically Supervised Injecting Centre (MSIC) reveals that the “overdose rate in the injecting room was 36 times higher than on the streets of Kings Cross."

Australia is obliged by International treaties to reduce demand for illicit drugs.

The United Nations International Narcotic Control Board, in a 2001 report, stated:

“. . . the operation of such facilities, where addicts inject themselves with illicit substances, condones Illicit drug use and drug trafficking and runs counter to the provisions of the international drug treaties.” (Para. 559)

Apart from the one facility in Sydney, no other Australian State or Territory has supported injecting rooms.

“The AMA should not be supporting such initiatives but instead investigating ways to treat and rehabilitate drug addicts,” Mr Flynn said.

“The Victorian Government should investigate the successful Swedish approach to illicit drugs. Key elements of the Swedish model are mandatory drug rehabilitation for those found addicted to drugs and strong policing of street selling.”

The Australian Christian Lobby has expressed concern that some frontline services to Queensland’s most vulnerable people are being affected by the Government’s budget cuts.

ACL Queensland Director Wendy Francis said ACL understood the need for the Government to balance its budget, but was concerned some of the cuts were going too far.

Ms Francis had spoken to a number of charities working with the disadvantaged.

“While the community and not-for-profit sector does need to play its part in helping reduce the deficit, it is hard to understand why cuts of relatively small amounts of money are being made to not-for-profits working at the coal-face with the disadvantaged,” Ms Francis said.

“They have proven track-records of effective assistance to our most needy,” she said.

In Ipswich alone, two Salvation Army community development programs have already been axed, and many trainees are now at risk of being forced out of their courses.

Other programs likely to be affected by the funding cuts include the Pacific Islanders program in Goodna catering to disadvantaged young people, and the Logan-based Participants in Prosperity program for ex-offenders.